Son: Mother's Ebola should spark push for cure

ATLANTA (AP) — Missionary Nancy Writebol, one of two known Americans stricken with Ebola, wasn't looking to abandon her overseas work. But Jeremy Writebol believes his 59-year-old mother can yield a greater good from her impending return to the United States amid West Africa's worst-ever outbreak of the often-deadly virus.

The attention focused on her case "might help develop a cure and resources to help those who are suffering," the younger Writebol said. "I am sure hopeful for that."

A Liberian government official has confirmed that a medical evacuation team is scheduled to fly Nancy Writebol back to the United States early Tuesday. She will receive treatment at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital alongside one of her mission partners, Dr. Kent Brantly, who was admitted Saturday.

The American cases make headlines as dozens of African heads of state converge on Washington for the Monday opening of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, a three-day gathering hosted by President Barack Obama. Among the stated purposes: discussing how to help African nations overcome systemic challenges, including disease.

Brantly and Writebol contracted Ebola after working on the same medical mission team treating victims of the virus around Monrovia, Liberia. More than 1,300 people have been stricken, killing at least 729 of them in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Ebola has no vaccine or antidote. However, both Brantly and Writebol were given an experimental treatment last week, according to international relief group Samaritan's Purse. Brantly is a physician with the group, and the group originally said that only Writebol got the treatment. Brantly also received a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy, an Ebola survivor, who had been under his care, according to the organization.

Emory, where Brantly already is quarantined, boasts one of the nation's most sophisticated infectious disease units.